Ethereum validators currently have to put down 32 Ether (ETH) if they want to participate in the stake program. Vitalik Buterin is now proposing to lower the threshold.

If you want to become an Ethereum validator yourself, you need a full wallet. In fact, a minimum of 32 ETH is required. The high threshold repeatedly leads to discussions about possible centralization at Ethereum. After all, 32 Ether currently costs more than 100,000 euros. Now Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin is also in favor of lowering the 32-ETH threshold.

"Every research I do confirms the same thing: the No. 1 thing when it comes to making home staking friendlier is lowering the 32 ETH requirement."

When and how this minimum requirement can be reduced, however, is another question. A simultaneous reduction of the 32 ETH requirement and the so-called SSF (single seat finality) is a challenge, says Vitalik Buterin. Orbit could help with this.

The statement is in response to an X-Post by Ambient Finance founder Doug Colkitt, who opposes such a change.

He is not opposed in principle to a friendlier Ethereum network. However, unilaterally adjusting the threshold of 32 Ether would not directly solve the problem.

"If Ethereum wants to be a home staking network, it must be as rigorously technical as high-throughput chains like Solana," Colkitt writes on Platform X.

I’m 100% opposed to turning Ethereum into a data center chain. As I’ve said many times, protocols that don’t run on consumer hardware will not be censorship resistant.

But what I am opposed to is using the specter of home staking to oppose any and all changes. The current…
— Doug Colkitt (@0xdoug) June 29, 2024

Personally, however, the Ethereum founder is doing well. The latest data from Arkham shows that Buterin's net worth has increased from $552.86 million at the beginning of the year to more than $834.66 million thanks to Ether. If it continues, Buterin will soon be a billionaire.